We broke a Bronco on the trail! Transmission pan fix

[vrtical]

I would rather have aluminum pans at least those are a bit easier to patch. These plastic pans just crack and explode.

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[RHeinz]

Flex Tape?

 

[ne2000]

Do the Sasquatch skid plates cover this?

Nope, here is a walk through

 

[Tricky Dick]

My w/t Sas with full skids does not have the transmission protected the ford engineere should be punched

Nobody does from the factory and it's an oversight. Should have at least been an option.

 

[tuletime]

Well a first happened! Gold Country Bronco’s went out like we usually do to explore some local trails and enjoy some fresh snow after the weeks winter storm!

Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.

At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.

Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.

We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.

4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!

In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.

On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.

After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!

So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.

That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.

Wow… that was almost like reading a TRUE GRIT story line! It pays to have great buddies on the trail! Glad it turned out Okay!

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Anyone questions why people always say don't wheel alone . . . have them read this.

 

[etmccaus86]

Good info! I guess I have the front skid plates due to the modular bumper. (4dr Base Sas). More skid plates are my next add on, thanks to this thread!

Base sas here, too, and yeah...those bash plates are all you get with a mod bumper. Have a stack of ASFIR skids in the garage waiting for me to find time to install...

 

[Arrowbear Rider]

You gave your dad ‘feces’?? Is this a typo?? Is this some East Texas colloquial custom I don’t know about??? Can we get some clarification on this?

I think he was politely saying, "he gave his dad shit" about getting the Oldsmobile instead of a truck.

 

[SROC3]

Well a first happened! Gold Country Bronco’s went out like we usually do to explore some local trails and enjoy some fresh snow after the weeks winter storm!

Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.

At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.

Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.

We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.

4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!

In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.

On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.

After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!

So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.

That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.

Great job guys!!!! Soooo.....what kind of Coleman tent is that? For cold weather I presume? and did you also use a specific "tent Mat"? I want to cold weather camp soon and just dont want to freeze.

 

[goatman2]

Nobody does from the factory and it's an oversight. Should have at least been and option.

Not sure, but isn't Badlands the only one with full skid plates? Except for the trans. When I saw that plastic trans pan I thought....well, that could be an accident waiting to happen. This story is a good reminder to get that plastic pan handled somehow.

I've been on Medicare for quite a few years, but I'm still not too old to rock crawl. My problem is despite any original intentions I get tempted too easily.

My standard comment to the much younger guys....."keep up!"

To the OP, thanks a ton for the great write up and pics. So, do we carry a spare trans pan as well as a spare inner tie rod? And a bag of trans fluid?

We could start a new thread and tell a bunch of our breakdown and recovery stories, could be interesting and informative reading. In nearly 40 yrs of hard wheeling I have a list of them. Kudos to you guys for having snow camping gear with you.

 

[Tricky Dick]

Not sure, but isn't Badlands the only one with full skid plates? Except for the trans. When I saw that plastic trans pan I thought....well, that could be an accident waiting to happen. This story is a good reminder to get that plastic pan handled somehow.

I've been on Medicare for quite a few years, but I'm still not too old to rock crawl. My problem is despite any original intentions I get tempted too easily.

My standard comment to the much younger guys....."keep up!"

To the OP, thanks a ton for the great write up and pics. So, do we carry a spare trans pan as well as a spare inner tie rod? And a bag of trans fluid?

We could start a new thread and tell a bunch of our breakdown and recovery stories, could be interesting and informative reading. In nearly 40 yrs of hard wheeling I have a list of them. Kudos to you guys for having snow camping gear with you.

Yeah BL (and I think BD) has the most skids but nothing for the trans.

 

[camojeeper]

Nobody does from the factory and it's an oversight. Should have at least been and option.

Exactly the factory skids are a joke.
Full vehicle bash plates? It says on my sticker. But we are going to leave a giant hole under the middle with a plastic trans pan. The ford team that allowed this should be punched

 

[popo_patty]

Great job guys!!!! Soooo.....what kind of Coleman tent is that? For cold weather I presume? and did you also use a specific "tent Mat"? I want to cold weather camp soon and just dont want to freeze.

This is the tent shown. I can’t however recommend it for cold weather camping as it’s not a 4 season tent. It’s what I have and it works in a pinch but I will be upgrading soon to a smaller 4 season tent. This works for my family but since they don’t like to snow camp I want something better when I snow camp. I lay out a tarp on packed snow, pitch the tent and then use moving blankets on the floor of the tent with an air mattress over that. I sleep in a cold weather bag with a down blanket and thermal clothes. Does the job without a heater but a heater would be nice. I’m considering doing the heating blanket with a battery pack. The issue with a buddy heater is it melts all the condensation which rains on you throughout the night not very fun


https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-2000...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

[MannyG20]

I think he was politely saying, "he gave his dad shit" about getting the Oldsmobile instead of a truck.

Okay, now I feel stupid. I just couldn’t come up with a word that would be autocorrected to ‘feces’.

 

[ATLBronco75]

Folks doing serious off roading with plastic skid plates are crazy IMO. I had better skid plates on my WRX than the OBX has.

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